Credit Suisse sheds nearly 13% of workforce

CREDIT Suisse has shed nearly 13 per cent of its workforce in the past 12 months, underlining the turmoil at the bank that was taken over by cross-town rival UBS in a state-engineered rescue earlier this year.

The number of Credit Suisse employees fell to 33,968 at the end of June, from 38,908 a year ago, the bank stated in its financial report published on Friday (Sep 29).

The pace of job losses accelerated during 2023, with 4,012 people leaving the bank in the first half of this year, up from 928 in the last six months of 2022.

The figures relate to Credit Suisse, the lender’s core banking business. They do not apply to the services division, which employs roughly 10,000 people in areas like human resources and IT.

Some of the jobs lost could be people who left as part of Credit Suisse’s own cost-cutting plans before the takeover or who jumped ship as confidence in the lender collapsed.

Further jobs could be lost, with UBS saying in August it planned to cut 3,000 jobs in Switzerland alone at the enlarged bank.

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A Credit Suisse spokesperson declined to comment on the breakdown between voluntary departures and job cuts, or how many jobs could be lost in the future.

UBS CEO Sergio Ermotti had warned of painful decisions about job cuts following the takeover.

“We won’t be able to create, (in the) short term, job opportunities for everybody. Synergies is part of the story,” Ermotti said at an event organised by the Asset Management Association Switzerland in June. REUTERS